


Come Back To Us

by kitkat0723



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Adult Christopher, Angst, Christopher is an adult and in college, Future Fic, M/M, Married Buddie, Not Beta Read, established Buddie, hurt fic, no one dies, very little comfort in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:47:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27812509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkat0723/pseuds/kitkat0723
Summary: Buck gets hurt on the job and ends up in a coma. Eddie isn't dealing with it very well.
Relationships: Eddie Diaz/Evan "Buck" Buckley
Comments: 33
Kudos: 178





	Come Back To Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cirrius_Akiyo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cirrius_Akiyo/gifts).



> Aki picked a prompt from a list of Angst/Fluff prompts. 
> 
> 70\. After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?”
> 
> And well this happened. I apologize in advance for any heart's ripped out of chests and torn to shreds. Ooops. 
> 
> All mistakes are my own.

Sterile walls, white sheets, beeping machines. They’ve been here countless times over the years. Length depending on who was the one in the bed and who was the one in the chair. It’s nothing new, but every time, no matter his position his stomach twists itself into a knot. These last few weeks have been the worst of it. His other half, the better part of him has lain prone, unmoving. The machines tell him his husband is alive. If he was alive he’d be awake and smiling that sunshine smile. He can’t take his eyes away from the face he’s traced with his thumb, his fingers, his lips. Countless time over the years. Here, in this hated environment, at home in their king-sized bed. At work before a shift when they’re pulled in different directions.    
He hopes and prays the man who helped save him from himself wakes up. It’s not fair they’re here again. He was supposed to be more careful. He wipes his face with his free hand as he hears the familiar sound coming down the hall. His son steps in and up to the bed, then sits next to him in the chair he vacated only the day before. The man who used to be a boy, familiar with these halls, as well as others lets loose a small sigh.    
“No change?”    
He has to clear his throat, it feels dry and raw, scratched like a broken record from the words he’s repeated on a loop when he can get away from the station to sit for a while. “No. He’s still resting.”   
“Did they do the scans?” His son asks, even as he reaches over, moves a hand on a leg that hasn’t so much as twitched in over two weeks. “This morning. They said he’s just resting his brain.”    
“Fancy talk for a bunch of quacks,” his son mutters, rubbing the leg a little harder. A jostle, to try and start the process. It hasn’t worked, and likely won’t.    
“Christopher, please.” He’s worn out and bogged down with stress and seeing his other half like this is doing nothing to improve his mood.    
His son hangs his head. “Sorry, dad. I just...I wish..” His son can’t form the words, but Eddie knows what they are.    
“I know Superman, I know.” Eddie uses his free hand, wraps it around his son. He hasn’t used the nickname his son turned seventeen, but the comfort it brings them all is what they need. Chris wisely says nothing of the use of his old nickname.    
“How were your classes?” He asks, his other hand linked tightly around his husbands. Maybe if Buck here’s how well his step-son is doing at school, he’ll wake up.    
“Boring, but informative. There’s a TA position opening up for my History classes I might apply.”    
Eddie tries to conjure up a smile, knows he probably failed. “That’s great. If you need help, you know Buck is always up to deep dive into research with you.”    
“I know. Denny had to help me with something with economics. It gave me a headache.”    
Eddie laughed, laid his head on the bed. Sometimes he wonders who Chris turned out to be like more, him or Buck. But he knows it’s the best part of the two of them that helped shape the man Christopher was now and what he was still going to be. Tears well into his eyes as Christopher’s hand comes up to rest on his shoulder.    
“He’ll come back to us, dad, he promised.” Eddie’s throat closes around the lump that worked its way up from his stomach. All he can do is nod.    
The room goes silent except for the beep, hiss, and whirl of the machines. A nurse comes to check on Buck, but she barely acknowledges his and Christopher’s presence, before she’s out of the door again.    
***   
When Maddie shows up, she promises to call with any news. Eddie knows it’s not likely to come anytime soon. The doctors told him Buck's brain just needed time. But he was almost forty and the fall was great. It was more than just a concussion this time. Eddie doesn’t know what saints are keeping them alive, but he prays every night, they keep doing their jobs.    
Christopher has to bully him away from the beside and towards home. They order pizza and not for the first time, his son saves him. It was his face who kept him alive in the sand dunes of the desert, it was his son's face who kept him grounded when his parents, god rest his mother's soul, kept trying to take the boy away and deem Eddie unfit. It was Christopher’s face who kept him going when he was buried thirty feet underground, trapped and with little air. His boy, his saving grace, his home. Now, Christopher is saving him again, when all Eddie wants to do is save the man he loves who’s laying in a hospital bed a half-hour away.    
“You should take a shower, you’ll feel better. You can keep the door open if you want.” Chris smiles, like old times and it makes Eddie grateful they have each other. It’s not the same without the third part of them here in the wall of their home, but it’s enough.    
“Yeah, okay. Want to watch a movie in our room? As much as I love the couch, my bones are old.”    
“Sure, dad. I’ll make popcorn.” Christopher leaves most of his crust on his plate like he always has and moves through the kitchen with ease until he finds the box of popcorn. He brings the box out and he’s looking down at it with a frown.    
“What’s wrong, Chris?” Eddie can’t fathom why a box of popcorn makes his son almost cry.    
“It’s Friday.” And just like that, the loss of Buck not being at home drops in like a wrecking ball. Christopher looks over at him, eyes welling with tears behind his glasses. Eddie hates this. He’s out of his chair in an instant, the chair crashing to the floor and ringing out like a gunshot. Eddie gather’s his son close, rocking back and forth. “He promised me, dad, he promised.”    
Eddie kisses the top of Christopher’s head as he lowers the two of them to the kitchen floor. “I know, bud. He’s trying. He’s trying.”    
Eddie feels the tears break free, as his son clings to him and he holds him close. He doesn’t know how long they sit there on the kitchen floor clinging to each other, tears leaving streaks down their cheeks, down the front of their shirts. They’re a mess, but dammit, they’re entitled to it he thinks. Once the tears have calmed down to sniffles, he rises and pulls his son up with him.    
They need Buck to wake up, come back home. But Eddie knows what to do when memories cling to them like misery. He’s not as young as he once was, but he’ll do anything to get a smile back on his kid's face. “Showers, pajamas, blanket fort. We’ll regret it in the morning but.”    
Christopher shakes his head, reaching for his crutches. “I don’t care. Can I borrow one of Buck’s shirts?”    
Eddie feels the familiar pain come and go. “Of course, I’ll get you one of his Captain’s shirts.”    
“Thanks, dad.”    
They head down the hall and Eddie has to steel himself to pull one of Buck’s drawers open, and even more when pulling out a shirt. He pulls out two because he needs the connection tonight. It’s hell, it’s always hell, being away from his husband. He knows Buck hates hospitals and always hates waking up alone, but Eddie also knows it will do him no good sitting there staring at his husband's prone body.    
He crosses the room to the open door and hands Christopher the shirt. “You sure you got it?”    
Christopher rolls his eyes. “Yes, dad. I’ll be okay. Don’t you fall or anything. I can’t lift you.”    
Eddie laughs and rolls his eyes right back. “I’ll be out in a minute. Then get started in the living room.”    
“Okay.” Christopher turns to leave but then turns back. “Dad?”    
Eddie looks up. “Yeah?”    
“Buck will be okay, right?” His lip wobbles and Eddie hates it but can do nothing to stop it. Not this time.    
“I don’t know, bud. I just don’t know. The doctors say he will be, but it was a bad fall, he got lucky nothing else was broken.”    
“I think he should change his name to Luck.”    
Eddie can’t help the chuckle. “We’ve told him that for years. We’ll go see him in the morning, okay?”    
“Yeah. Okay.”    
***   
_ The firehouse buzzes with activity as they walk in for a shift. Hen replies to something and Eddie knows it’s not. “Well almost,” was his long ago reply with everything back to normal. There’s no Buck here and no Buck in front of or beside him.  _ _  
_ _ “Hey, guys!” Buck smiles down at them from the catwalk and Eddie drops his bag and takes the stairs two at a time. He scoops Buck up into his arms, hands roaming. Buck pulls away, a frown on his face. “What the fuck, Eddie?” _ _  
_ _ “You...you were… there and then here? And?” Eddie looks around, sees the entire firehouse watching him. He shoves his hands into his jacket pockets.  _ _  
_ _ “Want to actually form a sentence there Diaz?” Buck’s eyebrow raises at him.  _ _  
_ _ Eddie takes a deep breath. “None of this is real. Or it was, but we’re past this.”  _ _  
_ _ “What are you talking about?” He doesn’t like this dream and wants out of it now.  _ _  
_ _ Eddie turns and heads for the stairs, running out of the firehouse and right back to the VA. He recognizes it all, everything around them. The sights and sounds. He recognizes the cuts and scrapes, smells the blood and death surrounding them.  _ _  
_ _ “Buck? Where’s Christopher?”  _ _  
_ _ Just like that long-ago day, before their first date, he feels his heart shatter into a million pieces when Buck tries to tell him Christopher was swept away.  _ _  
_ _ Eddie moves past him, snatches up his son. Looks over beyond the boy's shoulder. Knew even then he loved Buck with everything but wasn’t ready to tell him.  _ _  
_ _ He sets Christopher down and closes his eyes, hoping against everything he can get out of this nightmare now.  _ _  
_ _ When he opens his eyes, he’s standing at his truck, Buck looking on questioningly. Stupid impulse, stupid emotions. Buck’s smile is open, but his look says every word not spoken between them. He doesn’t want the anger to come between them again. It doesn’t belong. Not after they worked themselves back from whatever the hell happened. Eddie walks in behind Buck, chats, and laughs. It’s just another stop on the endless loop of the saga of Eddie and Buck.  _ _  
_ _ Every moment, pain, hurt, joy, lust, love. It all plays on a loop in Eddie’s head, Eddie’s dream until he gets back to them standing outside the fire.  _ _  
_ _ “Don’t do anything stupid!” He yells to his fellow captain. Buck just looks on, calls to his team. “I mean it, Buck. It’s too dangerous, our jobs are out here now.” He tries to talk reason into his husband. They made this deal when they both made Captain and had to be split up.  _ _  
_ _ A three-alarm fire meant they got to work together that day. He sees the minute the adrenaline rushes over Buck, knows he’s about to do something stupid. He calls out to his own team and grabs his gear, following, always following Buck into a fire, no matter what.  _ _  
_ _ It all goes to shit, the same way it did that day. The wood starts to give out under their feet, and he tries to get Buck away. “We have to make it home to Christopher, we promised him. You promised me, Buckley!”  _ _  
_ _ Buck grins even as he moves a little further away, this wasn’t how it went. Eddie knows that. The smoke is getting thicker, he can practically taste it on his tongue. He’s eaten smoke before, it’s nothing tasty. “That’s Buckley-Diaz, Eddie. We’ll be fine. We just need to…”  _ _  
_ _ “BUCK!”  _   
Eddie wakes with a gasp, sweating pouring down, Buck’s name on his lips.    
“Dad! Dad!” Christopher is shouting for him but thankfully not touching him. Eddie’s trapped between the roaring of the blaze in his ears and the air mattress under his backside, and the blankets a tangled mess in his legs. “Dad!”    
“I’m..” he tries to clear his throat, can still taste the smoke. He looks up at his son, who looks scared, and small, even with him being grown. “I’m not okay, Superman. Just give me a few okay?”    
“Do you need some water?”    
“I’ll get it in a second. Just let your old man catch his breath.”    
“I’m getting you some water and calling Aunt Maddie.”    
Eddie nods don’t trust his voice. His throat ached, felt like he had indeed been breathing in smoke for too long. Damn his subconscious for making him go through all of that again. Lifting his hands to scrub at his face, he notices the tremors and fights back the need to shove his hands under his legs. They need to clean up and get dressed so he can go back to the Hospital. He’s just grateful he doesn’t work today. He’s not sure what he’ll do on Monday, but he’ll figure it out then.    
Slowly, he rises from the floor onto the couch, head in his hands. “Dad, here.” Looking up, Eddie sees the water bottle clutched in Christopher’s hand.    
“Thank you, Christopher.” Eddie takes the water, quickly uncapping it and drinking half of it down. There’s still grit lodged. The dredges of the dream, nightmare, still lingering.    
Eddie tries to slow his heartbeat, get himself under control. “We’ll get breakfast on the way?” He asks Chris.    
“Sure. Let me go change.”    
“We have to clean too.”    
“I know.”    
Together, they headed down the hall to get dressed. Once Eddie’s finished getting ready, he heads back to the living room, starts to pick up the remnants of the impromptu slumber party. He’s letting the air mattress deflate when Christopher comes back in. He’s still wearing the Captain shirt, but he managed to change out of his pajama pants. He’s got his bookbag so Eddie figures Chris wants to get some school work done. 

He’s stowing the mattress in the front hall closet when his phone rings. Eddie drops the bag and runs for the coffee table. A picture of Maddie and her family light up his phone.   
He quickly slides his thumb over the screen, Christopher looking on. “Did he wake up?” He demands of his sister in law.   
She sighs and Eddie feels his heart drop. “No. Still no change. I was calling to let you know that his team came in. They’re in there now. I’m leaving to get coffee and I have to go to work.”   
“I just have to shove the air mattress into the closet. We’ll be there soon. I’ll grab you coffee. I don’t want strangers in there with him if he wakes up.”   
“They’re his family too, Eddie.” Maddie sighs again.   
“We’re his family, Maddie. I’ll buy you the biggest coffee ever.”   
“You’re lucky you’re my brother in law.”   
“I really am.”   
They hang up and Eddie moves back to the discarded air mattress. He quickly makes work of the bag before he snatches his keys up and waits for his son.   
“Dad, breathe. If there’s no change, there won’t be one before we get there.”   
“You, we don’t know that.”   
“No, but statistically speaking, he won’t wake up. And his team _is_ his family. You know that better than anyone.” Eddie shakes his shoulders out, tries to losen the tension in his jaw.   
He barely manages to keep it together while they get breakfast and coffee. As he approaches Buck’s room, he plasters a fake smile on his face. His husband’s team members see right through it, they quickly make their exit as Maddie rolls her eyes and accepts her coffee.   
“You managed to clear an entire room of firefighters with just one look.”   
“Your brother can and has done worse to those guys. They’re better firefighters because of it.”   
“Whatever you say. I’m off to work. I’ll be back tonight.”  
“Of course. Give my love to Chim and the kids.”   
She blows him an air kiss, even as she gives Christopher a side hug.   
“Dad. Breathe.” Christopher tells him again and takes the seat he designated for himself two weeks ago. He opens his book bag and pulls out a book. “You can stand there or sit while I read to Buck.”   
Eddie gives Buck a kiss, lingering. Willing his husband to wake up, it doesn’t happen. Rising, he moves around the bed, takes his seat. “What are you reading?”   
“Diary of a wimpy kid. This one was Buck’s favorite story in the series.”   
“He always loved reading to you.”   
“He was the best at the voices. I’m no Buck, but I’m going to try.”   
“That’s the spirit Superman.” Eddie slips his hand into Buck’s as Christopher starts to read.   
By dinner time, Buck still hasn’t woken up. Stil lays there prone beneath the white sheet. Eddie wonders if he should bring a blanket from home for him. Christopher’s cell phone rings and he cringes, even as Eddie looks over at him.   
“Shi-oot!” His son halfway curses.   
“What’s a matter?”   
“I promised Harry and Denny we’d have dinner together. They want to know if they should come to get me.”   
Eddie chuckles reaches over and ruffles Christopher’s hair. “Go on. Get out of here. Maddie will bring by something for dinner. Just be home by eleven.”   
“Are you sure?”   
Eddie nods. “I am. You need to spend some time with your friends. Not be stuck in a hospital room.”   
“He did it for me. He did it for you.” Christopher says pointedly.   
“He did, but right now, you should go live your life, since you apparently have one.” Eddie teased, but he knew it fell flat.   
“If you’re still here by nine I’ll come back, we can drive home together.” He rises, leaving his bookbag in the chair.   
“Alright. Love you, kid.” Eddie lets go of Buck’s hand, turns, and hugs his kid.   
“Love you, Dad,” Christopher hugs him back, then runs his hand over Buck’s leg. “Love you, Buck. Just keep swimming.”   
Eddie has to bite back a sob at the old familiar saying. He watches Christopher leave the room, takes Buck’s hand again.   
“There are still no words for how much I love you. How I hurt when you’re in this place or laid up at home. Dammit, Evan.” Eddie lays his head on the bed. **_“_** ** _After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?_** Come back to me, please. Come back to Christopher. Come back to your family. It’s not the same without you baby.”   
Eddie sighs when no changes happen. He lifts Buck’s hand and drops a kiss to it. “Fight for us.”   
Eddie drifts in and out of sleep, waking every half hour, with no changes. Christopher walks in, a smile on his face, and Denny walks in behind him, carrying a pizza box and a six-pack of Soda.   
“Aunt Maddie called and told me I should bring something familiar up for dinner. Maybe the smell would help wake him up.”   
He takes a seat and takes the cans from Denny as Eddie takes the pizza box. “Thanks, kids.”   
“You’re welcome, Eddie. Mom wanted me to tell you, she’ll be by to check on Buck tomorrow. She’s been busy with work.”   
He gives Denny a small smile, can’t believe how much their lives have changed and how all the kids of the original 118 have grown into adults. “That’s alright. I understand. Tell her I appreciate it, will you?”   
“Sure thing. Hey, Chris, game on next weekend?”   
Christopher shrugs. “If we’re not here, sure.”   
“Alright. Later Diazes!” He leaves the room, closing the door behind him.   
Eddie makes quick work of taking a slice of pizza and a soda, then the rest of the cans from Christopher.   
“Maybe we should have brought something I tried to cook. That would wake him up.” Christopher throws his head back and laughs.   
“Probably. Remember...Remember the one time you tried to make tortillas?” Chris recalls.  
“And they came out like bricks?” Eddie shakes his head at himself. He’s helpless in the kitchen.   
“Poor Buck. He ended making spaghetti that night.”   
“He banned me from the kitchen forever then and there.” Eddie sighs snags another slice of pizza as he and Christopher recall their best times with Buck. Maybe Buck can hear them.   
For the first time, the hospital room feels lighter, better. The boulders that had lodged themselves between his shoulder blades slowly begin to lift. He turns on one of Buck’s favorite songs for the hell of it and tells Christopher the story of how it connects to them.   
“I still remember your guys’ first dance. I was awestruck, of course, I didn’t know the word then, but that’s what it was. The two of you out on the dance floor, all your friends and family looking on. Abuela looking on, hands pressed to her chest. I think Tia Sophie got a picture of her looking at the two of you with love.”   
Eddie nods. “It’s in the album. It’s one of my favorites.”   
Eddie picks up Buck’s hand again, rubbing it between his own. “Come back to me, love. We need you here.”   
When nothing happened, he turned back to Christopher. “You know, Buck always told me he loved you before he loved me.”   
“I was an awesome kid.” Chris preens.   
“You really were, but Buck loved you so much. He introduced me to Carla, helped me build your skateboard, he found the plans online. He...he helped me after your mom.”   
Christopher pats his dad’s hand. “I know. Just like I know through all the bad stuff that happened to us, all three of us, we were still a family before we became an actual family. I want him to come back.”   
Eddie pulls Christopher into him. “He will, he will. He just...needs time.”   
They wait until Maddie gets there, helps herself to a slice of pizza before they take the box, and rise to leave. She pulls a book from the bag she’s carrying. “If you read it out loud, you have to do voices.”   
Christopher tells her. Maddie gives him a smile.   
“He got that from me. When he was younger, I would read to him and tried to make sure to make it fun. Buck hated reading.”   
“He does the best voices.”   
“Buck does a lot of things very well. Get some sleep. I’ll call you if there are any changes.”   
They bid her good night before kissing Buck and leaving. Eddie had just pushed the button for the elevator when Maddie called his name and came tearing down the hallway.   
“He woke up, he woke up! He wants to talk to you.” Her grey-tinted auburn hair flying wildly behind her.   
“Well be there in a minute. Go, you know he hates being alone.”   
“I know. But he’s awake.” Her eyes fill with tears, even as she turns on her heels and hurries down the hall.   
“Think he heard our trip down memory lane?” Christopher asked.   
“I bet it was me talking about cooking that did it.” Eddie grins. It would most definitely be a Buck thing to do.   
Stepping into the door frame, he sees his husband, the love of his life, sitting up in bed, cringing as he moves around while he talks to, or tries to talk to his sister. Christopher walks into the room first while Eddie watches from the doorway. A smile lights up on Buck’s face as Christopher leans over the bed, wrapping his arms around Buck. He’s crying and Buck’s eyes are wet too as he clings to his stepson. He feels it, the second Buck’s eyes land on his. It’s like being hit with a cattleprod. He walks into the room, engulfing his son and husband in his arms.   
“You came back.”   
“I promised I would. How long was I out?”   
“Too fucking long,” Eddie mutters as he stands and leans over Christopher to kiss Buck lightly.   
“You get any sleep?” Buck asked. Eddie shot him a glare. “Never mind. So what did I miss?”   
Christopher pulls back and launches into the two weeks they’d spent going back and forth from the hospital and home. Eddie sits on the edge of the bed and takes one of Buck’s hand in his as he listened to Christopher. They’d be okay. Buck came back to them. Just like he promised. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream at me on my Tumblr @Kitkat0723


End file.
